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Pope pushes for Mideast peace in meeting with Palestinian leader

The Palestinian president has met privately with Pope Francis at the Vatican, ahead of a ceremony to canonize two Palestinian nuns. It comes after a treaty in which the Vatican recognized the state of Palestine.

The pope held a private audience with President Mahmoud Abbas for around 20 minutes on Saturday, in talks which the Vatican described as cordial.

Abbas is in Rome to attend a ceremony to canonize two nuns who lived in Ottoman Palestine in the 19th century. They will be the first Palestinian Arabs to gain sainthood.

A large delegation from Palestine will also be present at Sunday's canonization, the first time Muslim officials from the land of Bethlehem will attend such a service.

During talks, Pope Francis presented the president with a medallion described as symbolizing an "angel of peace destroying the evil spirit of war."

Francis said the gift was because Abbas was "an angel of peace," echoing comments he made during his 2014 visit to Israel and the West Bank, when he called both Abbas and then-Israeli President Shimon Peres "men of peace."